Photographers P

John Patrick, Kirkcaldy

• JOHN PATRICK, PHOTOGRAPHER, KIRKCALDY

John Patrick (1831 to 1923) was a commercial photographer who worked in Kirkcaldy in Fife before moving to Edinburgh. He was also an amateur painter.

While still in Kirkcaldy, he photographed Wilhelm Steinitz, the first official World Chess Champion who attended 1867 Dundee International Tournament. Patrick is also known for his portraits of Thomas Carlyle, taken during Carlyle’s last visit to Kirkcaldy with his family in 1874.

Patrick’s studio at 52 Comiston Road Edinburgh was the haunt of many literary and artistic figures. However, on his death he was ‘bereft of all through no fault of his own, unless not having money-sense is a fault’.

His son James Patrick (qv) was a successful postcard publisher in Edinburgh.

This Card: Wilhelm Steinitz. Born in Prague in 1836, Steinitz was an Austrian-American chess master. He is considered to have held the world champion title longer than any other player. He won the championship from Adolf Anderssen in 1866, although he did not officially claim the title until 1886. Steinitz was also the first true theoretician of chess, known for developing a new positional style of play that shifted away from the popular romantic attacking style of the era. He lost his championship title to Emanuel Lasker in 1894.

The 1867 Dundee International Tournament, held in the Board Room of the Caledonian Railway Company, was a very strong chess competition. Then the undisputed strongest player in the world, and the first World Chess Champion, Steinitz, took part, along with the best players from both Scotland and the rest of Britain – and was second in the Grand Tourney. However, he and Scot Dr Fraser won the Handicap Tourney, where stronger players were disadvantaged by having fewer pieces than their opponents at the beginning.

Sources: Dundee 150th Anniversary Grandmaster Chess Tournament; National Galleries;